Volunteer Work as Part of Community Service in San Diego

During my stay in San Diego, I had the opportunity to volunteer in the food redistribution program – feeding the hungry. This is a weekly (every Thursday) event and organized by Dharma Bum Temple, 4144 Campus Ave, San Diego. We gather to prepare peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and carry it directly to those who are hungry especially to those who are living on the streets of downtown San Diego. From this activity, I have learnt about being generous and taking care of others that are in need. Practicing generosity means to give our time, energy and resources to help others without judgement. Generosity is the first of the Six Paramitas and is practiced to remove the conditions that lead to greed, which causes our suffering. I love this activity and I did it twice on 10th May and 17th May 2018. There were 2 other fellows, Midha Karim from Indonesia and Anastasiia from Ukraine joining this activity.

Other than the food redistribution activity, I had the opportunity to volunteer in beach cleaning activity too. The event was held in Imperial Beach on Saturday, May 19, 2018 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM and organized by I Love a Clean San Diego (ILACSD) and City of Imperial Beach Council. Volunteers are met at the corner of 13th Street and Imperial Beach Blvd for briefing and equipment distribution like buckets, garbage plastic, thongs and gloves. Snacks and waters were also provided by the organizer too. All volunteers are required to fill out a waiver form to participate and anyone under the age of 18 needs a waiver signed by their parent or guardian. It was a great event with a mission to have a zero waste, litter free and environmentally engaged San Diego region. Two other fellows were also involved in this activity: Midha Karim from Indonesia and Sirasar Boonma from Thailand.